From a young age, my tics have often suffocated me in my day-to-day life—eye blinking, lip smacking, sniffling. Before I ever knew the cause of my tics, they attracted strange looks and mockery from other kids. My diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome at the age of 15 gave me both a sense of clarity and a scapegoat to blame. Constant negativity infected my mind: “Why me?” I would ask myself, feeling as though my diagnosis weighed me down. The stress that Tourette’s Syndrome brought only made things worse—my tics intensified with the negative energy my brain was feeding on.
Tourette’s Syndrome, by definition, is a condition in which a person experiences multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic, with tics being repeated actions or motions done involuntarily. I often neglected the most important part of that definition—involuntarily. No matter how hard I try or how much I pray, my tics are part of who I am, and that is a fact I’ve had to accept. This acceptance is what allows me to see that Tourette’s Syndrome doesn’t have to be inherently bad.
In life, there are countless things we cannot control—the weather, what others think of us, injuries, and more. For me, Tourette’s Syndrome just happens to be one of those uncontrollable things. As a result, my tics have shaped me into someone who values optimism, always seeking light in darkness. Without them, I know I wouldn’t be nearly as resilient as I am today. They remind me that everything happens for a reason.
NJCTS reinforces why Tourette’s Syndrome has become a source of positivity for me. Without my diagnosis, I might never have discovered this organization. NJCTS has shown me that having Tourette’s doesn’t make me alone—it makes me part of something much larger. The many like-minded people within NJCTS have proven to me that Tourette’s Syndrome doesn’t have to feel like a curse; it can be a source of connection, understanding, and hope.